baroque was formed in May of 2001 by founding members Akira (ex-Shiver) and Bansaku (ex-After Effect). Ryo and Kei, both from the band Kannivalism, joined in June and baroque performed their first live in August. Very shortly after in September came the release of their first demo tape, Hitei Derikashi and Naru joined the band on drums.
It was evident from the start that 2002 would be a very eventful year. baroque's first one-man live was held on January 12, where they also sold a special edition of their mini-album, Tokyo Stripper. Unfortunately, Naru decided to leave the band in March although baroque soon recovered and their popularity grew at an impressive rate. The band continued to play a great number of one-man shows and on June 8th they performed at the Akasaka BLITZ, a 2000 seat venue. They definitely needed a drummer at that point and Yuji (ex-Hanoru) filled the spot.
In the Spring of 2003 baroque were signed to a major label. At their last indies live however, Yuji was unable to participate and was replaced by Jun-Ji, formerly of Siam Shade. Later in the year it was announced that Yuji would leave the band and the release of their first major maxi single followed this announcement. Now Sony Music distributed their releases while FIREWALL DIV, a division of Free Will produced them.
After a concert at Nihon Budokan, baroque encountered a few problems: several lives were cancelled, the release of the maxi-single Gariron was pushed back, their website closed for about two months and they were not seen in magazines. At the end of this rough period, the band had an interview with the magazine Arena37°C and it was explained that Kei had gotten into a drunken fight with some of the crew at Nihon Budokan after the concert and was arrested.
baroque held lives again in 2004, and released the maxi-singles Gariron, ila. and Nutty a hermit. Sadly, though, Akira was hospitalized in the Summer and part of the band's tour was cancelled. In August, Bansaku announced that he would leave the band; a month later the rest of baroque decided to disband. Their final concert was on December 25th 2004 and bore the title Mumirai -no future-.
Since then, Ryo and Kei re-joined Kannivalism and are doing quite well, while fans are keeping their fingers crossed that the other members will be seen again soon.
baroque was a very popular band with what seemed to be an ever-growing number of fans. They were popular for several reasons.
The first reason is that their music can be quite moving, but also very nice to dance to. It's a mix of rock that's tinged often with a jazzy influence. Secondly, they have a vocalist with a very unique voice. Sometimes melodic, sometimes a little nasal, he can 'play' with his vocal chords to produce some interesting sounds. Ryo's voice is definitely higher pitched, and when the strange effects are added, one immediately recognizes baroque's unique sound. Last but certainly not least, baroque always had a very strong charisma on stage.
